This invention relates to a method of operating an apparatus. The invention has been devised particularly but not exclusively for a working apparatus of the kind which is capable of performing excavating and/or loading or other earth moving, load shifting type activities.
It will be appreciated that the controlling of such working apparatus requires a complex array of controls. Such apparatus may have many operating devices which require control, and some of these may be controllable by the operator operating mechanical controls, whereas some of these may be controllable by the operator operating virtual controls e.g. using a touch sensitive screen to provide demand signals to a controller which responds by issuing command signals to the operating devices to operate the apparatus.
Throughout this specification, in referring to a control structure, we include both a structure which includes a mechanical control such as a joystick, control knob, push button and the like by means of which an operator may provide an input demand signal to a controller, and a virtual control structure which may include a display screen and a selection device such as a pointing device or other selection device e.g. the display screen may be touch sensitive in an appropriate position, to enable an operator to select an item such as an icon or line of text and thus to provide an input demand signal to the controller. In the latter case, an operator may be required to select a particular page or menu of the display screen in order to display the item the operator wishes to select.
The invention is more particularly concerned with a machine which has alternative operational modes, during each of which some of the operating devices may normally be operated in a preferred or expected operational state which may be different to the preferred or expected operational state of the operating device when the apparatus is being operated in an alternative operating mode.